


there is no algorithm for the maze of feelings

by DS_ds



Series: psychedelic hearts [3]
Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fun fair, Gilbert is confused, Revenge, awkward shirbert, crazy theory on heart background from promo vid, labirynth, psychedelic hearts, some spoilers for season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-28 23:51:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21145295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DS_ds/pseuds/DS_ds
Summary: Mrs Lynde has a twisted complicated idea of a fun fair amusement that lead to an awkward shirbert scene in front of the heart painted background





	there is no algorithm for the maze of feelings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anbethmarie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anbethmarie/gifts).

> This is an extended reply to anbethmarie question on what theories we may have about psychedelic hearts background. Thank you for pointing out this promo to me. Let me gift you this series in exchange.
> 
> Hope you all guys there enjoy it before we learn the canon reply in the next episode.
> 
> For this shot:  
Yes, mirror mazes existed at the time series is set in (all you guys in Europe while waiting for netflix why don’t you give it a go and visit Prague one, that apparently dates back to xix century although without mrs Lynde twist). Yes, travelling one sounds a bit impractical but let it be :)  
This is also for all Winnie haters dissappointed by previous piece.

Mrs Lynde was walking the path through the forest as the doctor advised her to do every morning. She was walking at fairly brisk pace considering her age and well...weight, silently blessing Muriel for the hint about loosening her corset. And while walking she was also furiously thinking so as not to waste her precious time. The annual county fair was coming soon and she had her hands full with organising everything from tidying the venue place to training the school kids at dancing. Right now she was pondering whether having a mirror maze she had been reading about in a newspaper a few years back was an achievable project. Probably it was easier and quicker to build than planting a hedge maze but perhaps the cost would be prohibitive...she would have to inquire if there was any enterprise like travelling mirror maze. The good cause for which they were going to raise funds at the fair was enough to make her try. Still she hoped she might be able to twist into it some of her personal interests as well...like her son Caleb’s future...The mind of mrs Lynde, invigorated by the fresh air, run in crazier and crazier circles, finally she was ready with her plan and turned towards Green Gables as she needed to rope in somebody to help her put it in action.

***

The night of the fair was a splendid summer one with the scent of flowers wafting above together with the aroma of different sweet treats offered. Gilbert was walking along the main alley of stalls with Winnie at his side. He was still a bit astonished she arrived at all, county fairs did not seem to him to be particularly her thing. Not to say they were his thing either. Yet here they were, promenading themselves here and there but the conversation was strained to put it mildly.  
-How do you find the weather this evening? - Winnie asked.  
-Well, the sky is cloudless, you can clearly see the big bear above our heads...  
-Oh, no, no, mr Blythe - Winnie gently wagged her pinky at him - mentioning star gazing is certainly forbidden by the aforementioned rules.  
Quiet ensued.  
-How did you like last Sunday sermon then? - Gilbert tried after a few minutes, realising only too late that first of all the question was pointless if you attended different church than the other person and couldn’t really relate to the same sermon and secondly...well, recently any mention of church just brought him back to that moment at church steps weeks ago when the girls of his class, clustered around Anne like little geese around mother goose, asked him questions on human reproduction and frankly all he could do was try not to chuckle...and he couldn’t risk that as explaining why, while being with the girl he asked out, he thought, regardless how innocently, of no less than six others would surely prove challenging.  
-Oh, it was beautifully centred around psalm 67 - answered Winnie glibly. Gilbert had no recollection what psalm 67 could be about.  
Another silence ensued while Gilbert racked his brain what to do next. They have been to ferris wheel, they have seen the stalls offering ribbons and handkerchiefs, they partook of sugared nuts, they tried to hit the bottle with rubber rings, Winnie correctly answered how many beans there were in a jar and now sported a blue bean-shaped cotillion and carried a big blonde doll under her arm. The doll was dangerously alike to Winnie, with the light blue dress and blonde tresses. And just then a small man with crooked legs and a misshaped cap on his head approached them from a nearby building.  
\- Welcome to the maze, madam, sir. It’s the one and only great Canadian travelling mirror maze, able to show you yourselves from different perspectives...why, one mirror even tells me my legs are straight - he cackled - And only this evening we have a hidden twist. Every fair couple can, upon entering separately, try to see if they end up finishing at the same place, this way proving whether the destiny wants them together or not. This is your only chance fair madam, sir, only 5 cents per couple.  
Winnie’s eyes lit up and she seemed all eager to try it out. They duly paid their fee and were told to enter the wooden structure by two different doors located left and right from the ticket office. 

***

As the door closed behind him, Gilbert found himself in a dimly lit hall, lined with mirrors alternating with wooden planks painted purple and red. Small lanterns with blue shades hung above the mirrors. It smelled - curiously enough - of dust and fresh paint at the same time. He guessed they must have enlarged the space recently while still utilising all old accessories. He could hear muted voices of other wanderers from behind the wooden partitions. He wasn’t really in a mood to linger...although the mirror showing himself as short and fat amused him a little...so he moved along with a plan in his head, carefully noting direction. The mirrors on his way multiplied him into hundreds of Gilberts but he did not care much. Eyes on the floor, he turned and turned until finally he saw an opening, lights outside and a scrap of blue dress. He rushed forward and stepped outside.

But the word „Winnie” died on his lips and his heart sunk as he stopped suddenly bare inches of Anne Shirley-Cuthbert who appeared to be pacing at her leisure to and fro just outside the maze, her auburn hair flowing freely behind her, straw hat sitting resolutely on top of her head.

\- What are you doing here? - he managed to stammer out while his brain tried to process everything at the same time - how come she ended here? how come she managed to look so cute? and what was he going to do about Winnie, sure to appear here in a few minutes?

***

Anne, to tell the truth, felt equally, awkwardly at a loss but reminded herself quickly of her professional capacity in being there and hided behind thus constructed facade. 

-I work here - she answered simply and laughed at his flabbergasted expression.

\- No, I don’t elope with the circus troupe - she explained - I am covering for Jerry. He wanted to experience the fair for a bit.- Gilbert had that funny expression showing she still needed to explain a lot - See, this maze is usually only very simple, with one entrance and half the area. But for our fair mrs Lynde decided to persuade them to add this fortune telling twist. So we helped the guy running it to expand a little - Matthew and Thomas Lynde extended the partitions, mrs Lynde ordered we need two entrances and six exits so that pairs can enter separately and may end up at same or different exits, often meeting other people as well for the fun of it. The backgrounds of the exits - she glanced nervously behind only to see the flamingly red heart around the door Gilbert emerged from and blushed a bit - are supposed to add flavour to this destiny-thingy. You know, you exit uhm...the heart to meet true love, you exit alstroemeria painted one for friendship, ring one for wedding...it is rather elaborate to be honest...not that mrs Lynde believes in it herself, she only believes in heaven intervention...

\- Okay - Gilbert managed - but what is your job here?

\- With such big area we feared people may get lost inside, so Jerry...or I now...patrol here in case anybody complains his counterpart takes too long inside or we hear any cry for help finding the way or feeling overwhelmed by closed dark space and so on. Did you spend a long time inside by the way?

-A couple of minutes probably.

\- Oh, wow. It almost tops Jerry who was the fastest to orientate himself inside when we tested it. How did you do it?

\- I read once for most mazes all you need to do is just turn right at every split of path.

\- Trust you to come up with a book solution and miss all fun of running in circles and some best mirrors at left forks.

\- I didn’t feel like fun much, to be honest.

Anne politely refrained from asking why then did he start in the first place and put 5 cents into it. Similarly, she tried hard to maintain her professional disinterest and NOT ask whether he entered the maze with someone, perhaps with some hope attached to the thing...no no no, that was no business of hers. She was here as Jerry’s cover right? 

But what happened next truly tested her professional aloofness.

***

From around the corner, where other 2 exits were located, gracefully glided Winnie with her doll and all.

-Oh, Gilbert - she cried out affectionately - where have you been? I just found the exit and was sure to see you but stumbled instead into a funny plump man muttering „oh, Muriel...oh, mother” under his breath. Well, he recovered quick enough and introduced himself once we have both regained balance. Never mind that Caleb guy, I heard voices and run around here.

-What was on the door you left through? - Anne asked innocently although she was now all frozen inside as some of her unadmitted questions began to have answers.

Winnie looked as she only now saw her but answered promptly nevertheless. 

\- Big purple flames.

\- Ah, insatiable passion - muttered Anne under her breath.

Yet Gilbert managed to catch it and had to turn to hide a smirk - it would not do to laugh now, not when he had to deal with two females seeming rather hostile to each other on top of his own already confused feelings.

Winnie did not hear Anne’s last remark. Or maybe chose not to.

\- Gilbert, darling, it seems this 5 cent destiny does not want us together after all. Shameful, isn’t it?

Anne wasn’t sure why she felt hot bubbles jiggling in her stomach upon hearing ‚Gilbert, darling’ from Winnie’s lips. Yet she also felt the growing urge for a dastardly revenge and she cast her professional attitude aside. 

\- Oh, surely you do not believe in that - she broke in - it is all rubbish. Why, seeing how quick Gilbert solved this maze, he should have been destined with Jerry - her lips gave a quick crooked smile - but...if you need some fortune telling this awesome evening, Winnie...

Anne breathed deeply one more time before delivering her final stroke.

\- You know I descend from the Scottish right? And you heard what they say...red-headed, Scottish are often Seers...

\- Well, can you see then something for me? - Winnie asked now honestly curious.

Anne’s eyes went suddenly all misty when she gazed above Winnie’s right shoulder.

\- Yes...I see...Bones - she finished darkly, turned on her heel and left. Despite all the bitterness gnawing at her heart, despite the fact she had to ball her hands into fists to stop herself from crying, she felt wild satisfaction.

***

Just as the small man in a cap was about to close the maze for night, he spotted a shadow slipping out one of the exits. The shadow dusted her skirt and whispered to herself.

\- Here goes my evening out of the window. Well, at least I studied in detail those mirrors, we can have some good lessons on optics now.

**Author's Note:**

> if this maze patrolling gives you a harry potter feeling - sorry ;) 
> 
> Also, if you are from Scotland, please don’t be offended by the end, Anne was basically taking it out on Winnie, I am sure she meant nothing disrespectful.


End file.
